What lies ahead? A question we all ask ourselves. In real life news, scientists began going along with a theory Becky had done so a long time ago. She had a few other predictions of what lies ahead, though trying to guess what the Lindens will do is beyond her talents. This will be Becky's last story for a while as she is going on a break that will last until at least the end of the year.

As of today, we are extending this
benefit to Private Estate Regions. Full Regions, Homesteads, and
Openspace Regions on Private Estates will get a 33% increase in Land Impact allowance at no additional charge! Now everyone will have more prims to enjoy!

As with the Mainland sims, the private island prim capacity increases are being done through their weekly rolling restarts. So the process should be done by next Monday.

Linden Lab also brought up their plans to allow private sim owners the option to boost their prim allowance by an additional 10,000 to 30,000, saying it would be "starting next week" and details would be soon. In their announcement earlier this month, they stated it would cost a $30 USD fee up front and a monthly $30 USD fee thereafter.

Among the first private sims to benefit from the boost is Purrfection Estates, best known for the "Happy Vixen" beach club. There was a general feeling of optimism that night in chat groups, though one person did express reservations, wondering if a few people might go overboard and engage in "prim wars" over the holidays, decorating their places to the max.

Do you the readers have any stories about how you, or your neighbors, are taking advantage of the prim capacity increases, or not? If so, let the us at the Newser know.

BAY CITY, SL - The Bay City Alliance will host its holiday Tree Lighting event on Saturday, 3rd December 2016 from 1-4 pm SL. The event will be held at the Bay City Fairgrounds, in North Channel ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/North%20Channel/128/128/24/ ) and will feature DJ GoSpeed of KONA Stream, and live performers Christov Kohnke and Zachh Cale. The event will also feature ice-skating, dancing, refreshments and a lot of fun for everyone, as well as the annual lighting of our Christmas tree.

Once again, Bay City will host a silent auction to support Child's Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org). Bay City is a Silver Sponsor of Child's Play Charity, having raised over US$2,000.00 to support the work of the charity. We are asking Second Life™ designers and artists to participate by providing fun, interesting, unique, or other transferrable items (or a no-copy object that the auction winner can give to you to redeem their prize, if the item(s) have to be no transfer). Please contact Marianne McCann to participate.

Auction will end at the conclusion of the event. All proceeds from the silent auction and from donation bins at the venue will go to Child's Play Charity. Child's Play is a 501c3 non profit organization offers online communities such as ours an opportunity to help seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment.

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information, or to participate in the event, please contact Marianne McCann.

More good news. For the second time in less than two weeks, another admired lost sim has returned to the Second Life Grid. This time it's "The Lost Gardens of Apollo," built in 2005 by Dane Zander, it had been a well designed and picturesque build, with a number of spots where couples could relax, and a platform they could dance or watch the sunrise or sunset. It closed in June 2011 when Zander could no longer support it. In May of this year, a tribute sim was made by Delphi Bernard. While it wasn't Zander's creation, it was an excellent and well-done build based on his style. But now, the sim really is back.

Anne Brightstar had informed me that the sim was back, referencing an article by Shin Klaar. The sim was listed as being under Mogura Linden, the same Linden who is listed as the owner of Mont Saint Michel, the picturesque build of a real life historic structure that vanished in September and was brought back by the Lab a little more than a week ago. The name of the place has changed a little. It is now called "The Lost Gardens of Apollo Historic Build."

This is different from the previous times Linden Lab has brought back a vanished area. The most obvious difference, they've done so a lot faster since the previous time. With Svarga, the sim was brought back months after it's closing. With the SS Galaxy and Mont Saint Michael, the places returned weeks after their vanishing. More than five years have passed since the passing of the Gardens.

Did Linden Lab decide maybe it was time to bring back some of Second Life's popular lost sims under a kind of preservation program, which has been suggested in the recent past by the Newser? If so, could we soon expect to see even more lost treasures to appear? Or perhaps a fan of the Lost Gardens spoke or did the right thing at the right time and got things finally rolling?

In any event, this beautiful sim is back, and once again people can come again and enjoy it.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Sometimes when you're busy with what's going on now, you forget about what you've done in the past. It was on this month nine years ago, November 2007, in which I was hired by Second Life Newspaper to start writing about this virtual world. Second Life has changed much since then, and in a sense I've gone through a few changes as well. A couple years ago, I would write a little about my time here as a reporter. There isn't that much to add to it, so here's a link to it here.

Thanksgiving is over, and that means the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Stores and shopping centers are turning white with the falling of snow and putting up decorations to help put visitors in the holiday mood. Gemma Cleanslate was recently at several venues and took a look around.

For those who haven't yet voted for the nominees in the Avi Choice Awards, you have until 5PM SL time today to do so. At that time, no more will be accepted, and the votes will be totaled. Among the nominees elegible for an award is the Second Life Newser, which can be found in "The Arts" category. So if you haven't yet, please click the link and vote for us in the "Favorite Magazine, Newspaper or Periodical" poll on the top.

It is suggested that readers look further down "The Arts," as well as "Fashion" and "SL Life" to see what else they could vote for. For instance, the Relay for Life and a number of groups or people connected to it have also been nominated for awards, such as T-1, Whip, and Krypton Radio, Wildstar Beaumont, and others.

The Avi Choice Awards will be presented on December 4 at 1PM SL time in a show hosted by Trader Whiplash and Nuala Maracas. The sim will be closed to the general public and be limited to the up to 85 people who purchase tickets to the event. The tickets cost 400L, and are non-refundable should the person be unable to attend.

Do you like prims? Building? ....Snowmen? Then sign up for the Snowman
Building contest today! You'll have from Dec 1st to Dec 4th to put down
your snowman/woman, and Dec 5th in the morning voting will start by way
of kiosks. The kiosk with the most votes/linden will win 1st Prize in
the Snowman Contest!!! There will also be a judges vote during that
time.

Mesh, sculpted and old school prims allowed with a Land Impact Limit of 30. You are not allowed to use a prefab snowman, however you can use whatever is in your iventory to assemble your snowman artwork and decorate it (i.e. hats, scarves ... etc), just remember and stay within the prim (Land impact) limit of 30.

This sign up sheet is to make sure we have enough spaces for those who are participating in the Snowman Contest.

ENTRY FEE of 250 LINDEN-- PAYABLE DURING SET UP If you have any questions please contact Sidonie Carlberg in world.

**MONDAY, November 28th, at 7 pm - VERSUS a tongue and cheek story from a series about a Witch who writes Romance Novels as a way to pay the bills. She and her 300 year old vampire boyfriend encounter a bit more trouble than rumors and backbiting at a Halloween party for people in her writers' guild. Gyro Muggins, and Trolley Trollop share the adventure.

**TUESDAY, November 29th, at 7 pm -- Robert Beatty's SERAFINA AND THE TWISTED STAFF continues with Caledonia Skytower

**WEDNESDAY, November 30th, at 7 pm -- TBA

**THURSDAY, December 1st:

~ at 7pm: JOULUTARINA, This is the story of how an orphan called Nikolas became Santa Claus by author Julie Lane, with Shandon Loring

10:00 a.m. Ludi Plebeii RitualThe beginning of the Ludi Plebeii is the Feast of The Capitoline Triad. We will begin at the temple on Capitoline Hill, where a ritual to ask for Their blessings will be performed. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA/23/209/79

Immediately after the ritual, we will gather in the Plaza to dedicate the new Trajan Column. Then, the feast will begin in the plaza - with food, wine, and dancing.http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA/23/209/79

11:30 a.m. ROMA Chariot Races In honour of Jupiter, Best and Greatest, Divine Mother Juno, and Wise Minerva, there will be chariot racing in the Hippodrome! We invite all to come join in this spectacle, to cheer on the racers. Everyone is welcome to race. There will be cash prizes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finalists!http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA/23/209/79

1:00 p.m. Legio Martial Games The Legio will sponsor mud-wrestling games, and other athletic entertainment for you to enjoy. All are welcome to join in!http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/77/222/42

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Just a few days after we reported on the "Cats Rule" sky graffiti that appeared over the Raglan Galaxy sim that was clearly visible on the Second Life map in the middle of the Raglan area, Linn Darkwatch posted on Facebook that something new had popped up. The words were not gone, but changed

There was no explanation as to who was the "butt" of this joke, though there was a little chatter about it, "Who ever did do this is a greefer, but must be clever to put letters over a full sim!" "I think ish just a Tiny having fun."

But a few days alter, another peek at the map showed the letters were gone. So after about a week, this set of hijinks of the tinies of Raglan Shire had come to an end. But Raglan being Raglan, there's little doubt something will happen soon.

From Fable Jupiter, "No race this Saturday Nov. 26 2016, join us the following Saturday on Dec 3rd." RacerX Gullwing's Giant Snail Races take place just about every Saturday. But not this time. Here's his announcement courtesy of a friend.

Friday, November 25, 2016

It was quite a Presidential election season in the United States this year. While some are happy with the results, and some are just glad it's over and putting politics behind them, others are expressing fear and anger. For those genuinely worried about what changes the election might mean, Evangeline Ling has started a support group. The first meeting was last week, but another one is tonight. Talking to Evangeline, she had a number of things to say.

In real life, "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, has been the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season for decades. Although the term originally was used to describe the car and foot traffic to the stores, it has come to mean the common belief the day is when most stores have made enough money in the year to turn a profit. The event is commonly perceived as stores being packed with shoppers in search of bargains and "must buy" toys, sometimes shoving and even fighting one another. Beginning a couple years ago sales made during the day began to diminish due to retailers running sales earlier in the month and more shoppers spreading their time throughout December and November. But the day still is symbolic to shoppers.

Mylie Foxclaw discovered on seraphimsl.com, a website about sales and shopping in Second Life, a list of Second Life stores with "Black Friday" sales with items marked 30%, 40%, or 50 percent off. The list involves a variety of stores from bedroom, to dungeon, to weddings, to armor and swords, and more.

There is one other store holding Black Friday sales, Furry Fashion. Until Midnight tonight SL time, there will be a 50 percent off sale in the main store, though only the main store, "Pay full price to get HALF YOUR MONEY BACK instantly. This Sale includes FF Main Store Vendors owned by Amethyst Crystal, Alexiel, Magnolia and Becky Doulton, Skyler Glasswing!"

Join us on a literary journey this Christmas Expo with the Winter
Writing Contest. The contest will feature two branches- Poetry and
Story-Telling. You are invited to write a small story or poem within a
Winter theme that may relate to your experience with cancer. You may
choose to write about a survivor, a journey of treatment, a memorial to a
loved and lost one, or whatever your heart and fingers tell you to
express.

Please read the rules carefully and tick the box at the bottom indicating you have agreed to them.

**RULES & CONDITIONS**

1. We ask that you try to keep your piece of poetry or prose to 750 words or less.

2. Submissions must be submitted on a full-permissions notecard to Cuddly Waffle on or before November 29th.

3. We will require permission to display your work on the sims at the Christmas Expo. They will be dispensed as no-modify notecards. If you'd like to include an image to be displayed with your submission, please attach a full perm copy to your submission notecard.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Today many of Second Life's residents will be with family, either completely Away From Computer, or on for short breaks. For others, the holiday dinner won't be until the weekend, or sadly will not be having dinner with family and friends. With this in mind, Shockwave Yareach decided to do something about it, getting all of the episodes of the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" radio program (not the more recent movie), and having them played at Club Cutlass.

"If you want somethign to do and feel glum, I'll be streaming the entire Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in Club Cutlass, starting at NOON Cst. EVERYONE is welcome -- Share and Enjoy!"

It won't be long before December is here. And for the fans of the Relay for Life that means the Relay for Life in Second Life Christmas Expo. There will be a number of events, including numerous live performers and DJs, the Breedables Fair and Auction, and of course lots and lots of shops and stalls for Christmas shoppers to get gifts for friends while helping out the American Cancer Society at the same time.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States, or "Turkey Day" as some amusingly call it. The holiday means different things to different people, but everyone associates the day with a big Thanksgiving dinner, with the main course being a plump cooked turkey. Mylie Foxclaw has an amusing little story, in which she describes getting set to cook the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, and nothing seems to go right.

On Sunday November 20, Veterans Isle held their monthly fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops, a charity that "builds mortgage-free, specially adapted homes nationwide for severely injured veterans." Although the event is usually held on the last Sunday of every month, it was held on the one before this time due to Thanksgiving Weekend. The event went on from 4PM to 9PM SL time (Midnight EST).

First at 4PM SL time was Waya Snowpaw, in real life a veteran for 20 years whom often performs as a DJ at a veterans motorcycle club. Next was Frets Nirvana, who helped organize the event, played his guitar while singing for the audience for the second hour.

At 6PM SL time was Keeba Tammas and her "Tiny Maniacs" band of tiny avatars, who played instruments while she sang for the crowd. "I loved the tinies! They were cute!" One would later say, "I almost put one in my pocket. He was holding up a little sign that said 'Free to a good home!' (grin)" At the end of Keeba's set, the tinies lined up and "Time to Tiny Raver Dance!" And the diminutive band members began tromping up and down as Irish music played.

At 7PM SL time was Maxx Sabertooth, A Rhythm and Blues singer whom yours truly knew from the Queen of Hearts riverboat club years ago. He would get down from the stage and mingle among the audience. Maxx still had his touch.

For the last hour was guitarist and singer Reggie Sunset. As he played, the total amount raised in the two house shaped kiosks on both sides of the stage began to get high. at 8:30 PM, the 75,000 Linden mark was reached. At 8:47, the total was at 91,000 Lindens.

There was also a raffle for a motorcycle during the benefit. The bike was provided by Lil Birds Customs. Although the one on display at the event was in US Army camouflage, the winner could chose a paint job of any branch of the military. Entries cost 100 Lindens each, and a total of 31 were bought, for a total of 3,100 raised. The winner of the raffle was Psychoblaze Resident.

At the end, a total of 101,350 had been raised in the two kiosks. Combined with the raffle, it was a total of 104,450. Talking to Frets, he commented, "Right now ....what I have to say is ...this wore me out!" People had a number of compliments, "This was wonderful way to spend a Sunday night!" "Thanks for the wonderful tunes, again." "Lovely set!" ""Great show!

Last night in the Relay for Life volunteer group, an announcement was made. They had selected the logo for next year's Relay Season.

We are very pleased to announce the winning entry in the 2017 Relay For Life of Second Life Logo Contest. Here is the winning design, Your Official 2017 Passport To Hope Logo, can be viewed on the website http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/

The winning logo was submitted by.Lizzy Gracemount. Lizzy put tremendous creativity, thought, and passion into her design. The Official 2017 Passport To Hope Logo will be made available in the coming new year in various sizes.

Thank You and Congratulations Lizzy!

On the website, the meanings of the logo were explained

Lizzy ... explained that each color is taken from “…the Official ACS Color
Palette. Every color has a special meaning from courage to peace to love
and harmony and above all for cancer research. I chose the colors to
fit this aspect of RFL and why we relay every year. The passport stamps
are from a public domain vector stock, colored to reflect the various
aspects of RFL OF SL. Every aspect of the piece reflects the journey
every survivor or cancer patient has traveled during their journey.”
Lizzy selected all her colors from the Official ACS Color Palette and included the symbolic meaning of each color.

Most regular users of Second Life have probably heard of Oculus Rift, the Virtual Reality headset that's been under development for a few years, which has long gotten the attention of Linden Lab which soon worked to make it compatible with Second Life, and was bought up by Facebook two years ago. Also about two years ago, one could place an order for a first generation unit for $350, and there were hopes for a more economical model for when it officially hit the market.

Finally the other day, I saw one for the first time at my local Best Buy. Finally the Oculus Rift headsets weren't just something being talked about on the computer, but available for me to get in the store. But as it turned out, the price hadn't dropped from two years ago. It was $599.99. They were selling a few brands of (low power) computers for less than that. If one adds the Oculus Touch hand controllers, the price goes up to almost $800.00.

Granted customer reviews are very good, rated an average of 4.4 out of five of over a hundred reviews with 87% saying they would recommend it to a friend. But for someone with a tight budget, it may simply be out of reach. At least until the price goes down.

Monday, November 21, 2016

On Saturday November 26 a new location will be opening, the Paradise Eiland Retreat and Event Center. It is a place of healing using alternative New Age therapies for bodily and spiritual ills. Becky Shamen was informed about the place and decided to see for herself how the place could help someone. So what did she think?

I was able to visit the sim and look around a little. Some of the shops there are still active, at least for now. And there were some chimneys with smoke coming out of them that I hadn't noticed before. Did I overlook them earlier, or something just added?

It's unclear whether or not the transfer of ownership will mean the sim will be temporarily closed for a while. So those interested in seeing the place again are advised to drop by sooner rather than later. But it's good news that this picturesque sim will be around for good.

The Second Life Newser has a new sponsor, one familiar to some longtime residents: Lorena Chung Estates, part of Anshe Chung Sims

"The Lorena Chung estate's history dates back to Second Life's first and
most successful estate Dreamland, est. 2004. Today you can find many
different types of residential, commercial and unzoned land parcels in
this sim and whole sim rentals. As in all Anshe Chung Sims estates you
receive 24/7 live support, free access to all items of the Anshe Chung
Content Library and full access to our community facilities."

Friday, November 18, 2016

Many of you have heard of "Overwatch," the latest game from Blizzard, best known for it's long running "World of Warcraft." Playable over computers and game console, the game is a first person shooter where the player is part of one or two teams fighting it out in an arena. Grease Coakes recently got his hands on the game. So what did he think?

When Linden Lab unveiled their Horizons Residential Regions on Tuesday, they released something else for the residents as well: a new game. As the games six sims are in the middle of the Horizons homes, the Lab is calling it "Horizons Experience." Dr. Talpa, the villain from last year's Paleoquest game, is back, having kidnapped a prisoner. And once again Magellan Linden is "too busy" to deal with it and is asking the residents for help in rescuing her.

The Horizons
experience takes you through six regions starting out in the great
advanced city itself. Here, Residents are introduced to the challenges
that await, so be sure to check out the videos outlining the great
adventure. Your journey will take you from towering canyons to dark and
deadly mines, all the way through forests and swamps,and finally, to the
command center where Tyrah awaits her rescue.

This 5 quest storyline takes you
through various challenges laid out by the evil Dr. Talpa. Everything
from vicious splorches, killer robots, laser defense systems, the
terrifying pet Fluffy, all the way to hidden traps, mazes, puzzles and
more! Residents will have to use the provided weapons to defeat
menacing foes, while taking on other elements with their own wit. But beware, saving Tyrah won’t be as
simple as conquering these challenges. The greatest adversary you face
is the clock winding down to 0. Can you save Tyrah in time?

The first of the sims, called the landing base, is for tutorials and where those completing it can pick up their rewards. Upon entering, you have a choice of being a player or explorer. Those who chose to explore around can fly around, but won't be able to interact with anything, though will still be knocked out if they run into hazards. The players of course get to play the game, getting a simple HUD which keeps track of how many levels they've gone through, one per sim.

The beginning of each level offers you the chance to pick up your HUD again if you lost it, and a notecard with simple instructions on what to do. Getting through each level means doing a task within a certain amount of time. If you get clobbered by any of the hazards, which can be anything from toxic water, to creatures, to vacuums, to killer robots, and more, you get send to the level's "resurrection circle" to start again, though if you've done the task already you don't need to repeat it. That is, unless time runs out, in which case you get sent back and the clock is reset, and you need to do the quest again. At the end of the first four levels is a panel you click on to progress to the next one. At the end of the fifth is the prisoner.

Here's a video tutorial of the game, which includes a look at all five levels. The fifth one is the most difficult of course. But with a woman about to be turned into a robotic slave, you're not going to let that stop you, will you?

After completing the game and returning to the landing base, players have a choice of receiving a random prize, or a Linden dollar prize. But in order to qualify for the latter, your account needs to have bought Linden dollars at least once from the Lab.

Giving the game a try myself, I eventually finished the first four levels . The fifth has been a hard nut to crack though. No doubt many residents will be braving the dangers to get the prizes.

Furry Fashion is getting into the Christmas spirit a little early. At a recent event, I heard one of their staff go, "I would like to announce something if I may. This year we are taking donations to help out Toys 4 Tots. there is an area that you can donate L$ right outside of the lounge."

Toys 4 Tots is a fairly well known charity in the United States, "The objectives of Toys for Tots are to help less fortunate children
throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas; to play
an active role in the development of one of our nation’s most valuable
resources – our children; to unite all members of local communities in a
common cause for three months each year during the annual toy
collection and distribution campaign; and to contribute to better
communities in the future."

You can find the Toys 4 Tots kiosk at Furry (159, 200, 113) The Lindens will be donated to the charity on Dec. 24th

A few days ago on Facebook, Linn Darkwatch posted this map screenshot in the Raglan Shire group, showing that a little aerial graffiti had been done over the Raglan Galaxy sim: "CATS RULE." She would demand, "Okay, you TAGS, fess up: who did this?"

To my knowledge, no one has come forward to bear responsibility for this pro-feline statement. Linn's post was followed by snickers and comments like "dey has gone too far dis time!" and "at least it written in purkle."

I would later check the map for myself. The sim's appearance had changed, but the letters were sill there, just now a red color this time.

No telling how long this latest episode of hijinks in Second Life's most noted community of tinies will last.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Frets Nirvana and US Military Veterans Group announces the tenth 2016 benefit for Homes For Our Troops in Second Life!

Frets Nirvana, the premier guitar artist in the virtual world Second Life and the US Military Veterans Group announce a benefit on November 20, 2016 in Second Life for the Veterans Support Organization for Home For Our Troops .

Frets Nirvana states: “HFOT is a privately funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization building specially adapted, mortgage-free homes nationwide for the most severely injured Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of these Veterans are multiple amputees, paraplegic, quadriplegic or suffered severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our Veterans sacrificed defending ours, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives. Since its inception in 2004, over 90 cents of every dollar spent by Homes for Our Troop has gone to directly support Veterans. ”

Home for Our Troops benefit concerts feature premier Second Life talent monthly at Veteran’s Isle. The concert on November 20, 2016 is scheduled from 4-9 PM PST. Featured artists will be DJ Waya Snowpaw, Frets Nirvana, Keeba Tammas, Maxx Sabretooth and ReggieSunset Rookswood .

ABOUT HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS - HFOT builds homes as a departure point for Veterans to rebuild their lives, and once again become highly productive members of society. Despite their life-altering injuries, many Veterans have embarked on new careers, completed their college degrees, or started families. Empowered by the freedom a mortgage-free and specially adapted home brings, these Veterans can now focus on their recovery and return to their life’s work of serving others. Many have embraced their roles as motivational speakers, sharing their messages of persevering through tragedy with groups and classrooms around the country; others take to a national platform to promote awareness of veteran suicide, homelessness and PTSD. Their incredible stories are the driving force for the work for HFOT.

Published on November 12 by RacerX Gullwing, "Join us for a cornucopia of fun The giant snails have turned fowl and
are serving up platters of trouble. Do the turkey trot with us round
the Tindallia Soothsayer created track ..."

In the first race, Fable Jupiter won with Lobbie Riggles second and QueeniePromise third. In the pro race, Tindallia Soothsayer was the winner with Catten Carter second and Fable Jupiter third. Cally Kane won the costume contest, getting a small prize. You can probably also see a certain fox reporter in the stands watching.

This Snail Race was the last of it's season, and probably the last until after Christmas that RacerX will be able to attend, due to his real-life Santa Claus job. But the races will continue to go on every Saturday at 11 AM at Gullwing Coast Racers (152/78/777).